First off let me say that I am not a big fan of the space shooter genre. I do play these types of games occasionally but have never actually kept an interest in one long enough to finish it. So when I first saw R-Type 3 I thought it would be another space shooter that wouldn't keep my attention longer than 5 minutes. I got the game anyway because the graphics looked great. But graphics alone can't make a game great. There is one other element in this game that keeps it from being average and that is how fun the game actually is. In the beginning it looks a lot like a normal game of the genre, you can select 1 of 3 ships and they have different attacks. Then you start the first mission. The graphics are amazing and so are the effects. Plenty of explosions and different types of weapons to keep the game moving along. Also if you are an expert at space shooter games you should give this one a try because it offers very challenging levels, and thats on the normal difficulty setting. I then decided to see what the 2 player mode looked like. I was very suprised to see that there was no slowdown in split screen mode and that the game was also fun to play with a friend. The sound on this game goes with the type of game it is. Of course there's the sounds of missles going off but there is also some music in the background that really go with the game. This game is a must-get for any fan of the space shooter genre. - <b>e.houser</b>